REVIEW: SPY MOVIE: THE PLAY! At The Hope Theatre 5 - 23 December 2023



“really hits the spot” ★★★★

        Spy Movie: The Play! essentially can’t go wrong; the premise, inherent in the title, is that a screenwriter and producer are putting on the movie they want to make – an ill-disguised rip-off of the James Bond franchise – as a play in a tiny pub theatre in Islington. The result is as fun as it sounds. Inflated Hollywood egos meet faulty props and a convoluted plot in which a writer called Ian Flemish is roped into helping the spy Jane Blond thwart some evildoers. High points include the musical title sequence, a chase scene on skis, and a trip to space.

The cast gives off the air of having a wonderful time while pulling off a really impressive range of accents and comedic bits. Jo Hartland as The Actress plays a hilariously po-faced Jane Blond, Emily Waters as The Writer and Jack Michael Stacey as The Actor are very funny as a range of wacky characters, and Theo Toksvig-Stewart as The Producer propels the show forward with his character’s enthusiastic but terrible ideas. This is a play that sets out to milk its premise to its limits, and it succeeds admirably. This really hits the spot on a rainy wintry night.

Spy Movie: The Play!, written and directed by Matthew Howell and Jack Michael Stacey, Hope Theatre, 5-23 December, https://www.thehopetheatre.com/productions/spy-movie-the-play/

Reviewed by Clio Doyle